Afghan officials met Mullah Baradar in Pakistan

* Spanta says team met Taliban's former leader two months ago and ‘spoke to him to know his views on peace talks’

* Malik says Pakistan granted Afghans access to Baradar

KABUL/ISLAMABAD: Afghan officials have held secret talks with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's former second-in-command who is in detention in Pakistan in a move which could help rekindle stalled peace talks with the insurgents, according to senior officials from both countries. Avez-vous voté pour ou contre Rangin Dadfar Spanta ?

Rangin Spanta, the national security adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and an architect of peace-building efforts, said an Afghan delegation had met Baradar in Pakistan two months ago. Baradar has been in detention since he was captured in a joint operation by the CIA and Pakistani intelligence agents in Karachi in 2010. "We have met Mullah Baradar," Spanta told Reuters in Kabul. "Our delegation has spoken to him to know his view on peace talks."

Afghan officials have publicly been demanding access to Baradar, the Taliban's top military commander until he was captured, but Spanta's revelation shows preliminary contact has already been made. Interior Minister Rehman Malik also said that Pakistan had granted Afghan officials access to Baradar. "They had access at the required and appropriate level," Malik told Reuters. "We are fully cooperating with Afghanistan and whatever they are asking for the peace process, for d. veloping peace in Afghanistan. We are giving every kind of help."